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Baby Boomers Think TV No Longer Targets Them
Labels: Jointblog
The Big Generation. The Me Generation. The More Generation. The Baby Boomers.
America's biggest demographic remains the Baby Boomers -- Madison Avenue's premium consumer target. Until recently.
A strange thing started to happen in the past couple of years. They started to turn 60.
While Dennis Hopper is doing ads saying Boomers will redefine retirement, the reality is they are retiring. Media has been shifting its focus away. Boomers are starting to realize they aren't media's most-prized demo. Boomers think TV no longer targets them. And it doesn't make Boomers happy.
Traditional mainstream media -- such as TV and radio -- has radically altered their programming choices to anything with younger appeal.
Aging Hipsters still pack plenty of consumer wallop...and it appears they are starting to get irritated no longer being TV's Most Important Consumer.
The Associated Press reports:Americans born between 1946 and 1964 are accustomed to being catered to, but that's not the case with much of television today. Now there's some new evidence that they're finding this mighty irritating. A study conducted by Harris Interactive suggests that the television industry's obsession with youth is backfiring.
With so much of media turning away from still-lucrative Boomers, it sounds like opportunity to me.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they believe that most TV programming and advertising is targeted toward people under 40, the survey said. More than 80 percent of adults over 40 say they have a hard time finding TV shows that reflect their lives. A significant number of baby boomers - 37 percent - say they aren't happy with what's on television, according to the study.
The theory among advertisers is that it's important to reach young people as their preferences are forming - get them hooked on a certain toothpaste or soda early and they'll be hooked for life. Advertisers will pay a premium for young viewers: $335 for every thousand people in the 18-to-24 age range that a network delivers, for example. Viewers aged 55-to-64 are worth only $119 for every thousand, according to Nielsen Media Research.
From a financial standpoint, if you're 50 or over, you currently mean nothing to those networks' executives.
Can websites like Eons.com catch Boomer -- and Madison Avenue -- attention? Will Boomers allow being forcibly retired from TV programming geared to them? Can Boomers make "35-64" the new "18-49"?
To read more, click here
posted by Unknown @ Sunday, November 19, 2006,
